Ladder brace and bracket.



L. M. NORTON.

LADDER BEACH AND BRACKET.

Patented Aug. 9, 1910.

2 BHEETB-BHEET 1.

JNVENTOR.

A TTORNEYS.

W] T NE SSE S.-

L. M. NORTON.

LADDER BRAGE AND BRACKET.

APPLIOATI'ONIILED 11213.,23, 1909.

Patented Aug. 9,1910.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES: 1 INVENTOR.

40%M. 062mm 741. mm

A T T ORA E YE.

UNITED sTATns PATENT OFFICE.

LEONARD M. NORTON, OF NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALFTO ALFRED G. CARLEY, OF NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

LADDER BRACE AND BRACKET.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEONARD M. NORTON, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Northampton, in the county of Hampshire and Stateof Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Ladder Brace andBracket, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in ladder attachments in which Imake use of a certain peculiar brace adapted to be attached to the rungsof a ladder, and of an adjustable bracket suitably supported by and fromsuch brace, together with additional strengthening members when necessary, all as hereinafter set forth. a

The objects of my invention are, first, to provide meansfor stiffening aladder and preventing the same from breaking, such means comprising aportable brace adapted to engage the rungs between the side-rails ofsaid ladder from either the front or the back side of the ladder;second, to afford means for securely attaching such brace to rungs ofany. size; third, to furnish in con-.

nection with the aforesaid brace a bracket and appurtenances wherebysaid bracket can be properly adjusted regardless of the angle at whichthe supporting ladder for the bracket stands or whether such bracket beon the front or the back thereof, and, fourth, to produce acomparatively light but strong and durable equipment for ladders, suchas is outlined above, that can be used with any ladder, including adouble or extension ladder, since it does not interfere with raising andlowering the extension member of such last-mentioned ladder, and can becompactly folded and stored in a small space when not in use. I attainthese objects by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhichi Figure l is an edge view ofa brace which embodies my invention,such brace being attached to a ladder only one side-rail and the rungsin cross-section of which appear; Fig. 2, a rear elevation, looking inthe direction of the arrow 2, in Fig. 1, of suchbrace and the ladderupon which it is mounted; Fig. 3, a. view similar to the first exceptingthat here a short brace is shown with a bracket fastened thereto andsupported thereby; Fig. 4, an enlarged edge or side elevation of afragment of a brace having a Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 23, 1909.

Patented A11 9, 1910. Serial No. 491,755.

Fig. 5, a side elevation of a truss-brace and a long double-supportedbracket mounted on the upper portion of a ladder, the latter being insection as in Figs. '1 and '3, and, Fig. 6, a front elevation of themembers appearing in the preceding view.

In each of the first three views, the middle portion of the ladder isbroken out, and the same thing is true of the brace shown in each ofthefirst two views.

Similar figures refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The ladders represented in the drawings are of usual construction andcomprise two side-rails 1 and rungs 3. There is a standard distancebetween ladder rungs, which is seldom departed from, and in the examplesherein appearing the standard is adhered to and the rungs 3 are spacedapart regularly and uniformly in all cases.

The brace, which constitutes an essential part of my invention, whetherlong enough to extend approximately the full length of the ladder ornot, always serves as a stiffenfor the several members of my invention,

hence I do not intend to limit myself to the angle-irons, tubes withflattened ends, and flat irons illustrated in the drawings.

In Figs. 1 and 2, a brace e is shown which comprises two parallelangle-irons 5 spaced apart and arranged with two of their sidesextending forward. and adjacent to each other. The angle-irons 5 arerigidly held in place relative to each other by means of a plurality ofstraps or cross-pieces 6 securely riveted to said angleirons, saidcrosspieces being placed against the rear surfaces of the angle-irons.These angle-irons joined together in this manner may be said toconstitute the backbone of the brace. Pivotally attached at 7 to eachcross-piece 6 so as to form a hinge is a hook 8. The hooks 8 aredesigned to fit over the rungs 3, therefore such hooks must be spacedapart screwed tightly against said hooks.

to correspond with said rungs. Two bolts 9 pass through openings in theangle-irons 5, in front of each cross-piece 6, and through openings insaid cross-piece to receive thumbnuts 1010 on their rear ends. It willnow be seen that the hinged hooks 8 constitute clamps, owing to thepresence of the bolts 9 and the thumb-nuts 10, and that such clamphookswhen engaged with the rungs 3 not only suspend and support theangle-irons 5 thereon, but also are made to grip said rungs firmly whensaid thumb-nuts are This construction also provides for adapting thehooks to rungs of various sizes. The thumbnuts have to be loosened, ofcourse, before removing the brace from the ladder.

From the foregoing it is clear that the brace 4 consists of theangle-irons 5, the crosspieces 6, and the clamp-hooks 8 in cluding thebolts 9 and the thumb-nuts 10. But a brace may be made which consists inpart of fixed hooks instead of hinged hooks, such a hook being shown at8*, in Fig. 4. The hook 8 is riveted at 11 to the angleirons 5 or otherlong member or members of the brace, and the free terminal of such hook,which may or may not be more or less resilient, is preferably inclinedoutward so as to afford a good grip on the rung when the same is wedgedin between said angleirons or other member or members and said freeterminal. The hook 8*, therefore, may in a way be a clamp-hook as wellas the hook first described.

The brace 4 is of sufiicient length to engage every rung 3 of the ladderto which said brace is attached, and such ladder is in consequencegreatly stiffened and strengthened.

Although the brace 4 is placed with its angle-irons 5 or backboneagainst the front of the rungs 3, the brace might just as well be placedwith said backbone against the back of said rungs, and the same thing istrue of the braces which are provided with brackets and which will nowbe described.

In Fig. 3 a brace 4 is shown, which differs from the brace 4 only inthat it is shorter, so that it engages but three of the rungs 3, and hasa number of holes 12 through the lower portions of theforwardlyextending sides of the angle-irons 5. Having its inner endpivoted at 13 to the upper end of the angle-irons 5 of the brace 4 is anarm or bracket 14. The bracket 14 in this case consists of a T-ironhaving a number of port 17, fastened by means of two bolts 18 and twothumb-nuts 19 at opposite ends respectively to the angle-irons 5 and thebracket 14, retains the latter in a horizontal position. One of thebolts 18 passes through two of the alining holes 12 in the angleirons 5and a suitable opening in the lower terminal of the support 17, and theother bolt 18 passes through one of the holes 15 in the bracket and asuitable opening in the upper terminal of said support, and it is due tothe presence of the plurality of such holes 12 and 15 that said bracketcan always be positioned horizontally, regardless of the inclinationgiven the ladder or the side of the ladder upon which the attachment maybe placed, it having already been made clear that this or any similarbrace, either with or without a bracket, can be located on the back sideof the ladder, if desired, as well as on the front side thereof.

In the last two views, a brace 4 appears, which is longer than the brace4, but not as long as the brace 4, and in which the holes 12 aresituated intermediate of its ends. A bracket 14, provided in this case,is also longer than the bracket 14, and there are two sets of holes 15therein, but said bracket is pivoted to the brace in the same manner asin the other case, and is similarly constructed to said bracket 14. Twosupports, 17 and 17 for the bracket 14, are employed instead of one, forthe sake of greater strength, such supports being adjustably attached tothe brace and bracket by means of bolts 18 and thumb-nuts 19, as before.This device is for use where heavy staging is required or where anunusual weight is to be upheld, and the strength of the brace 4 can beaugmented, when deemed necessary, by adding to the structure twotie-pieces 20 and a centerpiece 21. The extreme ends of the tie-pieces20 are pivoted respectively at 13 and 22 to the angle-irons 5 of thebrace 4 and the adjacent ends of said tie-pieces are connected with theouter end of the center-piece 21 by means of a bolt 18 and thumb-nut 19,while said center-piece has its inner end pivoted at 23 through two ofthe alining holes 12 to said angle-irons. By using the bolt 18 andthumb-nut 19, in this as in the other cases, convenient means isafforded for disconnecting the parts held together by the same. Whenthese brackets are not in use, some of the thumb-nuts 19 are unscrewedfrom their bolts 18, the latter are removed, and the pivoted bracketmembers are folded against the braces, so that they take up very littleroom whether the devices be left on the ladders or be taken therefromand stored away. By removing the bolts and thumb-nuts from both ends ofany one of the supports 17, 17, or 17 the support will be entirelydisconnected from the rest of the structure. The removal of a singlethumb-nut with its bolt enables the auxiliary brace members 20 and 21 tobe folded against the brace 4P as will be readily seen.

It has already been intimated that various changes-may be made in myinvention, and in addition to those noted especially others which relatemore particularly to size, shape, and minor details of construction andwhich will readily occur to one skilled in the art may also be made, andall without departing from the nature of said invention. Attention iscalled to the fact, too, that hooks need not be provided for every rungin range of the backbone.

hat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, in a ladder brace, with a suitable backbone, of oneor more hooks each hinged at one end to said backbone and adapted toreceive between it and the backbone the rung of a ladder, andscrew-threaded members arranged to retain said hooks with their freeterminals at proper distances from the backbone and capable of forcingthe hooks against the ladder rungs between them and the backbone,substantially as shown and described.

2. As an improved article of manufacture, a ladder brace consisting ofangle-irons arranged side by side, cross-pieces connecting and fasteningtogether said angle-irons at the back, hooks each hinged at its upperend to one of said cross-pieces and being adapted to receive between itand the angle-irons the rung of a ladder, and screw-threaded membersarranged to retain said hooks with their free terminals at properdistances from said angle-irons and capable of forcing said hooksagainst the ladder rungs between them and said angle-irons.

LEONARD M. NORTON. Witnesses:

A. G. OAKLEY, F. A. CUTTER.

